Madeleine, Leo & Alex's Discussion

"The Other Woman" centres around a phonecall from Lili to Zhang Liang. She isn't aware that he is working overtime that night and so decides to give him a call. But his mobile phone is switched off which she thinks is curious. She then decides to try his office phone number. The phone is picked up by a laughing woman who calls Zhang Liang telling him to be quick. When Zhang Liang gets on the phone, Lili accuses him of being busy lately because he is working overtime with this female colleague and little wonder that his phone is off. She asks him if she is disturbing their "private time" - the implication being that they are up to something more than work. Zhang Liang says his phone ran out of battery and that there is a big group of them working overtime. Lili doesn't believe him and tells him not to bother with the explanations, all men are the same and then proceeds to hang up. Zhang Liang urges Lili to listen to him before realising she's hung up. He then tries to call her back, only to get her answering machine.

In "Confiding in a Conniving Friend" Lili has a conversation with Chen Jing who has been manipulative before. Lili tells her that she thinks she may have misjudged Zhang Liang and it seems that he has gone behind her back with his work colleague. Chen Jing seems surprised by this, saying how honest Zhang Liang is, and says she thinks that it must be his phone ran out of power. She then tells Chen Jing about her phone call to the office and the flirtatious banter she believes she overheard. Chen Jing asks her if she's overthinking it and that it's normal for work colleagues to be joking around. Lili doesn't agree - Zhang Liang answered the phone nervously as if he had a guilty conscience. Chen Jing says Zhang Liang has been working hard and they don't even have time to see each other. Lili responds that before no matter how busy Zhang Liang was, he'd find time to be with her. Chen Jing then states that men these days aren't reliable and they are always thinking of themselves only. Lili replies that's why she tells herself that she misjudged him. In fact, she needs someone who wholeheartedly loves her. Chen Jing says that in truth Zhang Liang was ok, but it's just that he wasn't the person who suited Lili best.

"The Breakup" is another phone conversation between Lili and Zhang Liang with a fairly obvious outcome. Zhang Liang is happy to at least speak to Lili. He says for the last days he has been calling her non-stop and sending countless SMS. He asks why she has been ignoring him and does she know how worried he's been? Lili is not responsive. She asks him why he's worried and if she hasn't guessed mistakenly, shouldn't he be busy calling his new girlfriend, sending her messages. Zhang Liang is quite despairing - he asks Lili how she can still misunderstand him. He has already told her that the woman is just his colleague and that day by chance they working overtime together. He repeats that his phone had run out of power when she called. Lili gets angry then and asks him who is he deceiving - how is it that just on that day his phone ran out? Zhang Liang asks her why she won't speak reasonably - they have spoken about it so much & he was just working overtime that day. He is starting to get fed up with her and tells her, believe it or not it's up to you, women are always more suspicious. Lili takes this as proof of his guilty conscious and says she most despises the kind of man who doesn't dare admit his two-timing. Following this insult, Zhang Liang then accuses her of two-timing with Liu Xiang, the millionaire ex. Lili retorts that Zhang Liang can't compare to him and she should really be with him. They break up angrily.

Our 1st dialogue to perform is "The Other Women". These two that follow it show (1) how convinced Lili is that Zhang Liang is cheating on her - apparent in her conversation with Chen Jing - and (2) how confused and desparate Zhang Liang is to appease Lili. A couple of things I found interesting about "The Other Women" was when Lili finally talks to Zhang Liang in her accusation that he's busy because of his female colleague, she starts by using the term "原来“ - this suggest a dawning realisation of the real state of affairs kind of like "now I get it". I never realised the word could be used like this. Also in that same speech Lili talks about “私人时间”. According to John and Jenny this suggests not only privacy but intimacy and therefore makes clear exactly what Lili's suspicions are. I think we could make this dialogue dramatic and also funny - Lili's anger at the hapless Zhang Liang and the misunderstandings that follow. From reading the other dialogues it seems Zhang Liang was telling the truth and we should emphasise his total bewilderment.